Oh dear god where to begin...

Oh dear god where to begin...

The entire airport is FREEZING. We both had long heavy clothes and felt frozen here. If you have a long layover, bring layers.

If you have a long layover and are hoping to do a tour out of the airport, here's what you should know (scroll down to read more about the airport itself):

Sit in the front of your plane if you can. When you get off the plane, you're automatically funneled into a line where a shocking amount of people get in line to get the 72hr visa (was seemingly at least half our whole plane from LAX).

This line will move VERY slowly. We stood in the same spot for at least 30mins before it actually made a noticeable move. The reason this line goes so slowly? People haven't filled out the paperwork (that is available to the side of the desks with available pens--fill this out in line), they are just problematic, the ONE or TWO officers (no joke there was next to no one working the booth) granting the visas are fairly tough and stern, oh and people cut in line, repeatedly.

So if you want a possible idea of how long it takes, we started in line about 15ft away from the sign in the middle of the walkway, if you are there you know what I'm saying. We got in line at 6am, flight landed late (supposed to be 530am) and we did not receive our visa until 820am...

If you've booked a tour, that starts at say, 7am as ours was scheduled to, you can still make it to the Great Wall (the old part, not with cable cars) if you leave at 830. The agency we went with said that 830am is their cut off for the wall and they aren't kidding! Save yourself time to go through the maddening and chaotic security on the way back into the airport. If you leave for the wall at 830am, expect to spend 3mins there lol. Still worth it though.

More about the airport--there are no western snacks available in the mini stores. Literally just chocolates, dried fruits, alcohol, perfume, luxury clothing, weird stuff. So bring snacks with you if you are spending some time at this airport. The coffee shops are minimal in what they supply.

Oh and, NO VEGAN FOOD IN THE ENTIRE AIRPORT. Not even kidding!!!! We were starving and went to every restaurant to find something, it was next to impossible to find things that were even vegetarian. They cannot modify meals really either. So literally plan on starving or leaving the airport if you're vegan and need food.